Sunday, 29 July 2012

I used the sketch from this week's Less is More but obviously wasn't paying enough attention to the detail because I put my sentiment in a different place (apart from "bending" the frilly border), so I'll just have to make another card for that challenge.

The bird/heart stamp is a freebie from Craft Stamper magazine.
Love stamp is Paper Smooches.

Saturday, 28 July 2012

I quite often this Fabulous stamp (Heidi Swapp) and the dressform stamp (Kanban) together, and I almost always paper-piece the dress. Fortunately I had some paper that contained three of the four colours required! A flower and some bling, and hey presto.

Talking of fabulous, what did you think of the Olympics Opening Ceremony? The stand-out moments for me were the industrial landscape (those chimneys rising from the ground!), the forging of the fifth Olympic ring and raising it to the skies, the Queen parachuting in (what a hoot!!), Mr Bean (genius), passing the torch to the next generation, and the lighting and raising of the cauldron. How on earth they managed to keep it all secret is a mystery. The other mystery to most of Britain is the tribute to the NHS (goodness knows what the rest of the world thought!). One thing about Britain, we can always be relied upon for ingenuity. And eccentricity.

Friday, 27 July 2012

For me, strawberries are the ultimate summer fruit. Even though we can buy them virtually all year round now, they still taste better eaten in summer (hopefully with sunshine), with cream. Or in champagne :-)

I was lucky enough to go to Wimbledon a couple of years ago, and I told my husband in no uncertain terms that I would be having my Pimms and I would be having my strawberries, regardless of cost! I got both (of course) and was pleased that the prices were reasonable (so was he! Pleased, I mean. Although he is also reasonable. Usually.)

This week's challenge at One Layer Wednesday hosted by Cheryl is summer, and the challenge at CASology is fruit. Summer + fruit = strawberries.

The strawberry stamp is PSX. I tried colouring the stamp directly but it just didn't look right. It looks stronger and much more dramatic stamped in black and coloured in. Enjoy stamp is Hero Arts.

Thursday, 26 July 2012

Well, I've gone and done it. Made my first Christmas card this year. The theme at Dynamic Duos is

And the Belli Challenge 148 theme is Christmas in July. Belli challenge is all about using old or forgotten embellishments. I had a bag of punched folk hearts lying around (more body parts lying around in bags...) so I made them into a Christmas tree and topped it with a punched star.

Now, there's a lot going on in this photo, so nobody should be stuck for inspiration, right? Maybe because there is so much to go for, I couldn't decide on anything, and thought I might give this one a miss. Then along came a little extra Runway Inspired Challenge in honour of Cristina'snew baby, with this designer inspiration photo.

So now I had double inspiration!! I had the checked bow-tie from Lawnscaping and the checked jacket from RIC.

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

This was the card that I had in mind for this week's OLW97 Line Up, when I realised that a card I was making for other challenges also fitted the OLW criteria so I posted that. And this one was still in my head at that point.

The challenge at Less is More this week is sewing - machine or hand, fax or stamped, or sewing-related images. I've pierced the stitched line that runs from top left to enhance the faux stitching, which you can just about make out.

The lines stamp is from Paper Artsy, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and coloured with dirty lemon Tombow (my description, not theirs). The pink dots and the blue dot are teeny dome stickers - nice and shiny to reflect the shoes and shades in the RIC photo. Hugs is from Woodware FRCL069 Large and Small Greetings.

Monday, 23 July 2012

Another post from me today. Click here or scroll down for my CASE Study 100 post.

Challenge #8 at A Blog Named Hero is to create a card which has been inspired by one of those very talented Hero Arts Artists. I loved this card by Tami Hartley when I saw it. I thought it was perfect for a teenager, or a man who isn't into football, fishing or golfing. I loved the grunginess of it, and I do like black on a card - much to my mother's disgust; she thinks black cards are morbid.

Here's my take on it:

The circles are H2871 Holiday Baubles stamped with Versamark and embossed with white powder, then covered with Black Soot Distress ink which is then polished off the embossed surfaces. It's Your Birthday is CG275.

I liked the idea of a couple of birdies and the red gingham ribbon. Aw, tweet. The birds and birdcage stamps are from Kanban, and the love stamp is from Paper Smooches. The background paper is from the opticians. Oh no, it was Papermania from their Happy Days range. The ribbon bow, expertly tied (but not by me!), is also by Papermania from their Portobello Road range.

I am becoming a regular visitor to my opticians. I've been trying out occupational lenses (trendy word for bifocals, I think). But I've got so fed up with wobbling my head around to get the tiniest area into focus, only to wobble again half a second later when I want to look half an inch to left, right, up or down that I've given up and I am returning to the good old fashioned, tried and tested method of one pair on the nose and the other parked on the head, waiting to be swapped over. And sometimes both pairs on the nose...

The stamps are from Woodware FRCL023 Fashion Style, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and coloured with Tombows. The background paper is from Papermania, as are the glittery mount and the mulberry paper daisy chain. I've added mint pearls to the open centres of the daisies.

Friday, 20 July 2012

So there was I, thinking that I might use a black card base for the ColourQ challenge

when along came the CASual Fridays challenge to use black as a card base. Sorted!

I desperately didn't want to make a Christmas card (although they are the perfect colours) because I am still clinging to the hope that we will get a summer. I had this pack of legs lying around (unknown supplier) so I added some Suze Weinberg Pure Glitz Ruby Slippers (how apt!) and made a mini skirt from some Anita's sticky ribbon. The Tallulah Bankhead quote is Inkadinkado.

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Sunglasses on, girls! One of the themes of this month's Hero Arts competition is to use neon yellow, pink and orange. On the same card.

The second challenge at CASology is to make a card using the word Happy as inspiration.

Heather's challenge for One Layer Wednesday is to use lines, so this card fits pretty neatly into all three categories. In fact, it was only while I was typing this the I realised the card fits OLW, because I had another card and other lines in mind for that. I may well still do the other card.

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

The sentiment is Hero Arts H4373 Textured Thank You, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black, then coloured with the nearest shade of Tombow I could get to Pink Pirouette. Because the sentiment is so bold and chunky I made the layering chunky as well.

Monday, 16 July 2012

Using the four panels, general colour scheme and nostalgia of the card, I used papers and toppers from Craftwork Cards to make this card:

I covered the shaped card base with paper from the Ooh La La collection, then added four die cuts from the same range, and edged them with Platinum Stickles. The stamped sentiment is C2656 from Hero Arts.

This is a bit of a shift for me because I find myself veering more and more towards clean and simple stamped cards. Still, nothing like a bit of variety!

and Less is More challenge to make a one layer card with three of anything - images, colours, stamps, etc

That's it. Reached my combination limit, otherwise I would have entered it into another challenge that I'd found.

My three was three colours/shapes to make a birthday cake. I used the Penny Black Best Wishes stamp for the topping and candle, and finished it off with a punched teardrop of glittered mulberry paper as the candle flame. Does it look like a cake? It does to me.

So that's the cake, what about the chillililli? It's a weird word to say, but it's even weirder in print. Spellcheck doesn't like it. But I do, it's piccalilli with added chilli, and it's delicious. I bought it from a Bastille Day fair yesterday, along with some beetroot chutney which I have yet to sample, and some French red wine, which I have sampled :-)

Saturday, 14 July 2012

My strip of more mustard card is a bit more than their more mustard, but still not quite as dark as it appears in the photo. The brown ink is Memories Art Print Brown, and it has stained my clear happy birthday stamp quite badly. I can live with stained stamps, but even though I've cleaned this one several times with every stamp cleaning product I can find, and I can't get any more ink off the stamp, it is still stamping brown onto scrap paper. I've just bought a new stamp cleaner and will try that.

Friday, 13 July 2012

I hesitated to make a card using a pear stamp, after reading Susan's post, and I'm trying not to think tattoos. But I do like this stamp and don't get the opportunity to use it much. I made the card for The Paper Players Challenge #103:

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

When I first made this card I added the card candi on the ribbon bands, but contrasting the colours (red dot on blue band, blue dot on butterscotch band, butterscotch dot on red band) but the balance of the card wasn't quite right. So, after days of staring at it (not all the time you understand, just now and again) to get inspiration, I peeled the dots off and replaced them above the bands, replicating the order, and now I'm happy with it. Happy everything!